Here's a parting shot and my parting comments.
I apologize for the time between posts, but I am actually out climbing on the gear we're writing about. If I do a climb or two and the piece sucks, that result is clear in brief. If the piece works well, It really takes a lot of climbs under various conditions to really assess the potential and determine ways in which the device might become fully functional for us.
The ATC's are simple to use, inexpensive, available at many climbing sections of sporting goods stores. They can go 1:1 doubled rope descent, 2:1 doubled rope descent and single rope descent. The pieces are designed for 11 mm, 12 mm you can stuff in there, 13 mm forget about it. There is no intrinsic lockoff abilities. It tends slack very well, single or doubled. It's very quick on and off.
Not taking 13 mm rope and not having any lockoff ability definitely knocks it out of the running for a potential treeguy device. However, the positive elements of the device should be sought in future devices.
Before moving on to the next family of devices, any questions about the ATCs, or the ATC-esque belay tube family?
